Secrets
by sciencekills
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke still feels trapped in this world he's created, lying to everyone in a vain attempt to salvage what little he has left. Two raven-haired children and their friends fight to find the truth as well as their purpose. Uchiha Obito sets his plan in motion. And Kakashi? He didn't ask for any of this. Sequel to Skin Deep.
1. Chapter 1

_A creak sounded as the door to the hokage's office opened. Kakashi glanced up through narrowed eyes, grimacing behind his mask. Papers were strewn about his desk, letters from others countries in response to his news that Madara was still alive._

 _The room was dark—he'd been working since what felt like dawn and now it was evening. Even Anko attempted to give Kakashi his space as he dealt with the political fallout of Madara's second resurrection. But, as a chakra scan quickly proved, his wife Anko was not his visitor._

 _Within seconds, Sasuke's face came into view. Kakashi opened his mouth to send the boy away, but stopped short when he noticed the look in his eyes._

 _Something was off. He hadn't seen a look like that in years._

 _"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke said, the suffix in his name only serving to surprise the current hokage further. "Do you have a moment?"_

 _Sitting up just a little straighter, Kakashi folded his hands together and gave the boy a short nod._

 _"What is it, Sasuke?"_

 _"Uchiha Madara," Sasuke began, and Kakashi already knew this couldn't be good. "I just saw him."_

 _"Where?"_

 _"At the… funeral. The one everyone was just at yesterday."_

 _"Hyuuga Akira's?"_

 _Sasuke nodded slowly. Something still seemed off._

 _"Did he tell you why?" Likely, if Sasuke knew where the man was, he wouldn't have bothered coming in to see him. Frankly, the why, or at least the lie that may have been told, could shed some light on the situation._

 _"He just wanted to talk."_

 _"About what?"_

 _"He said you would know, too. You and Tsunade."_

 _"Know about what, Sasuke?" Kakashi prayed to any deity possibly listening that this wasn't about what he feared it was._

 _"That kunoichi who died. Who she was…" Sasuke trailed off, and something in Kakashi stomach dropped. "And what she was… to my brother."_

 _His fears confirmed, Kakashi gave no immediate response._

 _What was Madara hoping to gain by this, by revealing this fact to Sasuke? Madara never just revealed information for no reason. The strange circumstances of Akira's death had been tiring enough to cover up. Neither he nor Tsunade could quite figure out what had happened. It was hard enough to keep the villagers from panicking and not have Akira branded as a traitor for what had happened, whatever the cause. Was that what Madara was planning? To overwhelm them?_

 _"And do you believe him?" Kakashi settled for saying. "That this girl was somehow involved with your brother?"_

 _"I saw her children." Sasuke gazed at the hokage with accusing eyes. Unable to think of an appropriate reply, Kakashi once again said nothing._

 _"So you did know…" Hesitance gone, now Sasuke was just angry. "Why didn't you tell me? Why does everyone still think I'm a child, that I can't handle the truth?!"_

 _"When I found out, Sasuke, you were still a wanted criminal bent on destroying the village."_

 _The Uchiha's expression only fell all the more._

 _"Five years…" Sasuke trailed off. Kakashi braced himself for the rest. "You knew for five years that I wasn't the last Uchiha, and you never bothered to tell me?"_

 _"Revealing such a thing and having the wrong people overhear could have caused a social uproar and unnecessary, possibly violent attention drawn to Akira and her children," Kakashi said simply. "I gave my word to remain silent. The three of us agreed it would be best for you not to know, especially after you married Sakura."_

 _"What about Tsunade? Who knew first, you or her?"_

 _"Tsunade found out about Akira's pregnancy shortly after she arrived. Akira only told me when Tsunade was unconscious and she was out of allies. She was trying to save you—"_

 _"Save me?" Sasuke scoffed. "Save me by naming her son after me and then never mentioning why? I didn't even know who she was!"_

 _"And Akira wanted to keep it that way."_

 _"Well, she shouldn't have." Sasuke said darkly, and something told Kakashi there was more to this story._

 _"So are you planning to reveal what you know to the village? To the twins?"_

 _Sasuke looked away, his dark eyes glassy._

 _"I can't."_

 _The room fell silent, and a terrible thought crossed Kakashi's mind._

 _"Sasuke, what have you done?"_

 _Come to think of it, the Uchiha had been on guard duty that night when Akira was injured. Her wounds hadn't been inflicted by a weapon like Samehada, otherwise there would be barely anything of her left. Madara didn't have the habit of fighting with a sword, but…_

 _Kakashi's eyes widened as the pieces clicked together in his head._

 _Sasuke did._

 _"I didn't know who she was," Sasuke said with more regret in his tone than Kakashi would have ever imagined possible. "I thought she was with Madara."_

 _Now it made sense—Madara hadn't been trying to kill Akira. He'd been trying to blackmail her. That's why someone had broken into the Hyuuga compound. Madara's target had been the twins. That was why he had tried to save Akira—_

 _"She tried to tell me," Sasuke continued, his tone melancholy. "But I wouldn't listen. Now I have a niece and nephew that I can't even go near because I killed their mother." He paused, and then let out a sarcastic laugh. "Not just their mother. I killed Itachi, too."_

 _Tsunade would never let him get away with this. She'd loved Akira—that girl had been her student for two years before going off to join a unit at the hospital full time. Not to mention, the opinion of the village was split enough when it came to the truth about the Uchiha clan. Sasuke bore the brunt of most of the hate for both his own crimes and what his clan had attempted, but even as a man in his twenties, it clearly still bothered him._

 _A burden like that would be far too much to put on a five-year-old, and if Sasuke were suddenly put on trial for this, word would get out and the truth would be revealed one way or another. Sakura would be devastated, even more so than finding out her friend had died, and if Sasuke weren't executed, he would be imprisoned._

 _Despite being hokage, Kakashi didn't have full reign over the law. If he went to Tsunade and the other members of the council about this and any potential legal action were taken, which it would be, not just the Uchiha twins, but two sets of children would be growing up without a father, and Kakashi knew only too well what that was like._

 _Kakashi had a daughter who was almost four, Rei. He couldn't imagine leaving her side or having to watch her grow up without him. Even Sasuke, as cold as he was, probably didn't want to see Sakura raise Isao by herself._

 _As for the Hyuuga clan—they would likely disown the twins. They had such a long standing rivalry with the Uchiha clan it was a wonder Sasuke didn't have more attempts on his life._

 _No; Sasuke couldn't deal with any more hits to his record, and those twins didn't deserve the curse of the Uchiha. Kakashi ran a fingerless gloved hand through wild silver hair and let out a sigh._

 _He didn't like it, but being hokage wasn't about liking things. It was about doing what was best for the village._

 _"We never had this conversation," Kakashi said softly. The Uchiha gave him a bewildered look. Kakashi raised his voice ever so slightly. "Get out and let no one know what you are now aware of, not even Sakura. If you must, watch over the twins, but never let anyone know you are there and certainly not why."_

 _The young Uchiha, still clearly surprised, only gave his former teacher a brief nod before leaving the room, just as quickly as he'd come. Kakashi breathed out another sigh, this one more heartfelt and much deeper._

 _Kakashi couldn't see a better way out of this, no matter how hard he searched. Now all he could do was hope Sasuke could keep his mouth shut._

* * *

Hyuuga Kagami stared ahead with a bored expression as she and her brother headed down the dusty Konoha path.

With the academy classes having just ended, the street was packed with bustling parents, eager to bring their children home.

Being fourteen, Kagami and her brother Sasuke had been out of the academy for nearly two years. If not for the doe-eyed girl who walked beside them, no one on their team would even be here.

There were two other presences with the raven-haired twins: Riku, their blonde-haired teammate, and Saya, their childhood friend who still often spent time with them, despite being assigned to another team.

"Thanks for coming with me to pick up Takumi!" Saya grinned, jade eyes twinkling.

Sasuke returned the smile. Riku said nothing, and Kagami sighed.

 _The things we do for friends…_

Takumi was Saya's younger brother. At eight year old, he was still fairly new to the academy, and with Kaname's work schedule at the hospital and Makoto-sensei's extra teaching responsibilities, it made things easier for everyone when Saya came to get him.

"What's the word with the new graduates?" Riku inquired, fingerless gloved hands crossed behind his head. Strands of blonde hair covered most of his left eye, although the playful glint in his only visible iris could still clearly be seen.

"My dad said everyone was able to pass this year," Saya replied.

Kagami snorted. Sasuke shot her a warning glance.

"Looks like Genji finally graduated. Only took him what, two tries?"

Sarutobi Genji, that slacker—he took after his long sought-after teacher Nara Shikamaru even more than the man's eight-year-old son, ironically named after Genji's deceased father.

"Nee-san, be nice," Sasuke scolded, momentarily frowning. "Not everyone finds the ninja academy easy."

"They put him on a team with Uzumaki Kushina and Uchiha Isao," Saya spoke up, trying to sound positive.

Kagami only snorted again. "Great, so lazy idiot gets paired with the egotistical Uchiha and the big-breasted moron? Would've been more fitting if Kushina were blonde like Naruto-sensei."

"What are the other teams?" Sasuke interjected, attempting to change the subject.

Saya paused, brushing a finger to her chin in a thinking pose.

"Well, let's see…" she mused, thinking back to one of her father's rosters. "Other than Genji's team, I believe Nara Shikura was paired with Aburame Haru and Rock Neji."

"Sounds like they'll at least make a good team," Kagami admitted. "Who's their sensei?"

"Lee-san."

"Isn't there a rule against parents being on the same team as their kids?" Sasuke questioned.

Saya shrugged. "I guess someone made an exception."

As part of Naruto's preparation for becoming hokage, he and the soon-to-be former hokage Hatake Kakashi had collaborated on approving this year's proposed ninja genin teams. Frankly, the whole ordeal sounded more like something Uzumaki Naruto would do—likely a plan to bring Rock Neji and his estranged father closer. It was no secret the two of them did not see eye to eye.

"Any others?" Riku spoke this time.

"I don't remember too many," Saya admitted, "but Akimichi Chou was paired with Houzuki Sora and Inuzuka Kai."

"Hm. Chou's mom works with mine. I've seen her around."

"Ah, there's Takumi!" Before Kagami could chime in her vote of doubt, Saya spotted her brother.

How the girl managed to spot the eight-year-old without the byakugan was beyond her. All she knew was that facing the mass of little ones emerging from the academy together certainly beat letting Saya, in all her sweetness, face the crowd alone.

Saya noticed Takumi before he noticed her. Kagami barely had time to blink before the blue-haired girl had her arms around her brother's shoulders and ushered him in Team Naruto's direction, where Kagami, Sasuke, and Riku stood beside a tall tree with an empty wooden swing swaying from one of its larger branches.

"Hi, Sasuke-san, Kagami-san! Riku!" the eight-year-old smiled, one of his front teeth missing. His brown hair was tinted red, much like Kaname's, only his eyes were blue, a stark contrast between Kaname's green and Makoto's hazel.

"Kaa-san wants me to get home and make dinner as soon as possible," Saya informed, her brother clinging to her arm, still with a wide smile. "See everyone tomorrow!"

"Hn." Kagami grunted, and Saya and Takumi disappeared from sight into the crowd.

"So…" Riku began, breaking the overlapping silence. "Training anyone?"

Kagami and Sasuke exchanged smiles, the first mutual expression they shared all day.

The training grounds they spoke of resided a ways away from the Hyuuga compound where Kagami and Sasuke lived. They had a favorite corner near the back where hardly anyone ever went concealed from the side by a small grove of trees.

"Both of you versus me?" Riku suggested, clenching his right hand into a fist.

The Hyuuga twins grinned and simultaneously activated their respective byakugans.

Riku was getting better, Kagami had to admit, at dodging their pokes, but he still had much to learn. He lasted a while—five minutes almost. But then Sasuke managed to disable the boy's right arm with a set of pokes while Kagami swept out his leg.

By the time the dust settled, Riku lay on the ground, two chakra enhanced palms in his face as Kagami and Sasuke stood over him.

"Maybe you should consider fighting us one at a time," Kagami said, her voice taunting. Riku glowered, but accepted Kagami's hand when she offered to help him up and Sasuke shuffled backwards.

"I thought I would find you here." Three heads turned to see a tall blonde-haired man with cerulean eyes and unmistakable whisker markings across his cheeks. His outfit consisted of a mix of blacks and blues beneath a standard Konoha olive green flak jacket.

"Naruto-sensei!" Riku waved while his other hand cupped the back of his head where he hadn't fallen properly.

The soon-to-be hokage approached them, still smiling.

Sasuke offered an additional wave, but said nothing. Both his and his sister's byakugans were now deactivated.

"Shouldn't you be with Kakashi?" Kagami inquired, her left eyebrow raised.

"I just accepted my last mission before my inauguration. Come with me to Ichiraku's and I'll tell you all about it!"

* * *

Ramen with Naruto-sensei was an odd tradition. Kagami would rarely go out for ramen, if ever, were it not for their sensei. She certainly didn't hate the taste. Rather, she saw no point in going out for something so simple that they could make instantly at home.

The new mission sounded exiting, at least judging by Naruto-sensei's enthusiasm. Hopefully, it would actually be fun rather than something exclusive to their sensei's eclectic tastes.

"So, what's our mission, Naruto-sensei?" Sasuke inquired. The four of them were the only customers at Ichiraku's that evening, allowing each of them front row seats at the well-worn counter of their sensei's favorite restaurant.

"Hopefully something a little more interesting than helping a cat out of a tree," Riku added.

Naruto laughed, shaking his head. He turned to the lady behind the counter, a smiling brunette who Kagami knew as their former academy teacher's wife.

"Ayame-chan! Four of the usual please!" Naruto called, holding up the number four on his fingers.

"Coming right up, Naruto!" she called back. Her smile was polite, a usual polite hostess look, although her eyes were genuinely happy.

"Anyway," Naruto continued, turning back to his team, "this mission means a lot to me for a number of reasons. First of all, we'll be heading to the Land of Waves."

"Close to the Mist village?" Sasuke said, attempting a specification.

Naruto beamed. "Correct! My first mission outside of Konoha was there. We'll even be helping the same people."

"Doing what exactly?" Kagami inquired, her tone less enthusiastic. So much for something interesting. "If I recall correctly, the objective of that mission was body guarding for a bridge builder."

"Correct again," Naruto affirmed. "Tazuna is his name, but this particular mission doesn't involve any body guarding. Just manual labor."

Kagami had to bite her tongue to keep from rolling her eyes.

 _When are we going to get any real missions? We've been a team for nearly two years and hardly anything's happened._ They'd travelled, mostly to Suna and a few civilian villages, but never anything above C or D rank. Not to mention, manual labor certainly wasn't interesting enough for her taste. They did enough of that with training.

"In the least, it should be easy," Riku remarked, a lazy expression on his face. He leaned an elbow on the counter while Kagami sat with the front of her body facing the counter and Sasuke with his back, his full attention focused on their teacher as he spoke.

"Guess we'll find out! It'll be my last mission before my inauguration ceremony next week. Kakashi thought it would be fitting if I went out strong."

 _With a C ranked mission._ Hardly strong.

Before anyone else could comment further, two things happened. One, their ramen came, carried by old man Ichiraku, who looked truly that— old. His face was wrinkled, his hair was gray, and it was a wonder how he managed to balance all four bowls of chicken ramen in either of his hands and both forearms without burning himself or dropping them.

"Tou-san!" Ayame turned to her father, her expression alarmed. "You shouldn't be carrying so much!"

"Nonsense, Ayame-chan. I've been doing this twice as long as you've been alive."

"You know, you really shouldn't." A new voice chimed in, and all eyes turned to see a familiar pinkette and her dark-haired husband.

Uchiha Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's eyes lit up at the sight of his teammates. "And Sasuke, too. What are you guys doing here?"

"Just here to see Umito. Is he here?" Sakura inquired, jade-colored eyes on Ayame.

Umino Naruto, or better known as "Umito," was an interesting child. With his parents being Umino Iruka and Ichiraku Ayame, Uzumaki Naruto was not only one of the ramen shop's best customers, but also their child's namesake.

"Over here, Sakura-sensei!"

The speaker was a boy barely tall enough to be seen peering from behind the corner. He touted brown hair, like Ayame's, and his face fixed in a smile. Beside him stood a much taller silver-haired girl in a short blue kimono complemented with thigh high navy boots. A red obi interrupted the calm blue color of her outfit and, most strikingly, a leaf hitiate covered her eyes.

"Ah, Umito, Rei," the pinkette offered her two students a wave. "I didn't know you both would be here."

"Father isn't getting back until late. He has a lot of loose ends to tie up," Rei answered, referring to the soon-to-be former hokage. "Kaa-san said she'd be out late, as well."

"Well, I guess it works out to my benefit then," Sakura grinned. "I just wanted to say that you three are to meet me tomorrow at the training grounds at noon. There's some new formations I'd like to go over before our next mission."

"Understood, Sakura-sensei!" The two spoke in unison and with that, they returned to the back room from which they'd come. Judging by the sounds that followed, Rei was helping with the dishes.

"How does she not break anything, considering she's blind?" The room fell silent at Riku's remark, and several people shot him harsh stares. "What?" Riku shrugged. Then his arms flailed. "It's true!"

"Rei has a heightened abilities to sense chakras," Sakura explained, her tone not at all accusing like Kagami expected. "Because of it, she's able to sense movement and function almost normally."

"Hm." Saya had explained the notion before, but even now Riku didn't seem to quite understand.

For Kagami, who heavily relied on her eyes for most any type of jutsu she performed, she could understand why the concept didn't make sense at all to someone like Riku, who had never had to deal with such a handicap.

"Shall we pass the message on to Saya? We should see her sometime before then," Sasuke offered.

"That's okay, I managed to catch her on her way home from the academy," Sakura assured, waving her hand for emphasis.

While they talked, Kagami's gaze wandered to the tall man standing behind Saya's teacher. Dead black eyes stared back at her.

 _It's that creep who has the same first name as my brother._ In an odd way, he seemed to purposefully avoid making eye contact with her. _Uchiha Sasuke._

* * *

Although he didn't show it, Sasuke had been surprised the moment he walked into Ichiraku's. He'd agreed to accompany his wife to check on her students, and although he sensed the twins' presences as he and Sakura approached the shop, he hadn't expected what he'd seen.

His niece, with that long ponytail and the red hair tie—she looked just like Itachi, sitting the way she did with her back to the door. Upon seeing her up close, it became quite clear that she was female, but from a distance, Sasuke had literally felt his heart stop for a few seconds.

Thankfully, with her attention focused on Umito and Rei, Sakura hadn't noticed. But, in his attempts not to stare, Sasuke had to avoid looking altogether.

Kagami seemed to be the embodiment of the aloof side of his brother—the cool type who always seemed composed and knew what she was doing. Meanwhile, his nephew seemed to have inherited Itachi's softer side. He was by no means weak, but just the way he looked at people… Sasuke could tell that his nephew cared, that he desired with everything in his being to protect the ones he loved.

The younger Sasuke certainly didn't share the same long hairstyle, but dark bangs framing a smile like the one he had—even at a glance, Sasuke could see Itachi in him, too.

"Isn't that great?" Sakura turned to look at him, a smile on her face, but in his musing Sasuke hadn't caught a word anyone said. When he didn't reply, much to his relief, his wife elaborated, "Naruto and his team are going on a mission to the Land of Waves tomorrow, just like the one we did all those years ago!"

"Just hopefully with a lot fewer assassins!" Naruto added, chopsticks extended. He dug into his ramen, but continued to speak nonetheless. "We're just going to help Tazuna build a new house for Inari! Apparently he's married now!"

"They grow up so fast," Sakura sighed, a hand on her hip. Gato was long dead, so Team Naruto didn't have to worry about him. Nonetheless, Sasuke remained bothered, but not about the mission.

"Sakura, we're leaving," Sasuke cut, his tone deadpan. He offered the soon-to-be hokage a half-hearted wave. "See you around."

Sakura shot him a confused look, but didn't argue. She turned back to Naruto and his team.

"Sasuke's right. We should be getting home," she said. "Isao just graduated from the academy today, and I promised to cook him his favorite!"

"Say hi to Minato for me!" Naruo's wife had been babysitting Sasuke and Sakura's younger son Keiji along with Naruto and Hinata's equally-aged son Minato while Sasuke and Sakura were at work. "Kushina graduated today, too, so I guess we should do something special for her." Naruto scratched his head nervously. Everyone knew he wasn't much good at planning any sort of celebration.

"Best of luck! I'll be sure to let Hinata-chan know Kushina passed!" Sakura waved once more, and with that, they were off.

Sasuke and Sakura walked for a bit, both of them in silence until Sakura felt it appropriate to begin questioning him.

"Did you have to be so sudden? Everyone seemed to be having a great time," she scolded, almost playfully. Sasuke said nothing, not even bothering to comment. "You always get so quiet when his team is there."

"It doesn't matter. Let's just get home to Isao." He and his oldest son possessed vastly different taste palettes, so dinner would likely not be much fun, but that wasn't what bothered Sasuke, either.

It wasn't just Naruto, and it wasn't just the twins—it was the twins _with_ Naruto, and the circumstances that had led to them being placed under his tutelage.

 _(Two years earlier…)_

 _"Kakashi."_

 _The hokage didn't look up immediately as he recognized his former student's voice. When he did glance upward, Sasuke's expression was stern, angry even._

 _"Is something the matter?"_

 _"You know exactly what I'm here about." Definitely angry. He could hear it in Sasuke's voice._

 _Still looking down, Kakashi set his stack of seemingly never-ending paperwork aside and then focused his full attention on Sasuke. Rather than guessing, he nudged the Uchiha just a bit further._

 _"What seems to be troubling you?" It seemed to be the only occurrences when Sasuke visited him._

 _"You put the twins under Naruto!" Sasuke's lip fixed in a snarl. "He doesn't know a thing about them! How can he possibly be their sensei?!"_

 _"And you think you would be a better idea?"_

 _"You know I would be!"_

 _Kakashi folded his fingers in front of himself atop the surface of his desk. Even with the mask obscuring half his face, the look in his eyes was calm._

 _"Sasuke, you are a powerful shinobi, this I am not denying," Kakashi began. "However, being a powerful shinobi does not mean you will also be a good teacher."_

 _"No one else here knows how to use the sharingan!" Sasuke blurted. Kakashi gave him a Look. The Uchiha mumbled something, then quickly corrected himself, "According to our clan's traditions."_

 _"Sasuke, the twins are only half Uchiha. There is no guarantee that they will ever even activate the sharingan."_

 _"And if they do? What is Naruto supposed to do about it? He doesn't even know!"_

 _"Naruto may not have the sharingan, but he has the heart of a teacher. What about their third teammate Riku? Would you intend to neglect him and focus solely on your niece and nephew?"_

 _Sasuke muttered something again, this time inaudibly._

 _"Naruto is fit to be their teacher. His wife is a Hyuuga. He knows more about that half of their blood than you do."_

 _But I can't just sit back and watch! Sasuke's expression screamed. However, the Uchiha said nothing of the sort._

 _"Sasuke, we agreed. The twins are not to know who you are."_

 _"They wouldn't have to!"_

 _"And if they do activate the sharingan? How do you plan to explain that to them?"_

 _"I'd think of something!" Sasuke insisted, but Kakashi shook his head._

 _"The decision has been made, Sasuke. Naruto will be their teacher. You are not fit to be a sensei. What kind of a hokage would I be if I assigned a former international war criminal in charge of a team of genin?"_

 _Sasuke had no reply. He looked at the ground, his dark eyes glazed over._

 _"Perhaps Naruto will let you assist in their training at some point, but I would recommend against it. You shouldn't torture yourself. That's all being their sensei would do to you."_

 _"I already torture myself. Every time I have to look at their faces—every time Sakura so much as mentions them," Sasuke cut, his tone bitter. His eyes blazed with the sharingan for the briefest moment. "I torture myself that I can do nothing, just sit here and watch, when they're the last living piece of my brother I'll ever have!"_

 _"We've been over this before," Kakashi repeated, his tone firm. "If you reveal who you are to them, you incriminate both of us. You, for killing their mother, and me for allowing you to get away with it. Our wives leaving us would be the least of our problems if that were to happen."_

 _"You're making a mistake," Sasuke said._

 _"No, Sasuke," Kakashi corrected. "I'm preventing you from making another one."_

* * *

Well, this took a hell of a lot longer than I intended. Apologies for the wait. School (I'm in my senior year of college), life (2016 sucked and even two months later I'm still recovering), and writer's block have been beating my ass into the ground. Thank you all who are still following and took the time to read. For those who just arrived, welcome!

This is the sequel to my first story _Skin_ _Deep_ which starred Uchiha Itachi and my OC Hyuuga Akira. This one stars their two kids Hyuuga Kagami and Hyuuga Sasuke as well as their friends Koizuki Riku (Deidara and my OC Koizuki Eri's kid) and Fukami Saya (Konan's daughter who my OCs Fukami Makoto and Itsumade Kaname adopted), and very much deviates from the original manga. I promised myself I would finish this story and that is exactly what I am going to do. Hope everyone enjoys! (Also, my sister and I did a LOT of new character designs for this fic, so please don't hesitate to ask me who someone is if you are confused. I will be happy to answer!)


	2. Chapter 2

Kagami resisted the urge to shiver as the strange Uchiha left with Saya's teacher. Something about him just didn't sit right with her. Her brother seemed to feel it, too, considering the look they exchanged, but neither of them said anything.

She didn't have long to dwell on the strange feeling, though. In front of her was ramen to eat, and, even with such a brief training session, Kagami had worked up an appetite.

RIku was almost finished his ramen by the time she began. Sasuke had started his, too, but ate much more slowly. Typically enough, Naruto-sensei was already on his third bowl.

"We're intruding!" With a mouthful of noodles, Kagami turned as another familiar voice spoke and two new presences entered the shop.

A pair of lavender orbs and another bespectacled pair of dark eyes joined them at the counter. Kagami immediately recognized the lavender-eyed girl as Hyuuga Hanabi, Naruto-sensei's sister-in-law.

 _Which would make…_ Kagami turned her gaze to the male counterpart. Sure enough, she recognized Hanabi's boyfriend Udon.

"Hanabi-chan!" Naruto greeted the pair with a warm welcome, same as he had for Sakura and Sasuke. "What brings you here?"

"We're celebrating," Hanabi declared, smirking. Udon looked away sheepishly.

"I just made the ANBU squad today," he announced, smiling proudly.

Facial expressions lit up around the room, even including old man Ichiraku.

"Can we see your tattoo?" Riku requested, stars dancing in his blue eyes.

Udon paused, stole a glance at his girlfriend, and, in what he hoped was a serious expression, lifted the material of his left shirt sleeve. Thankfully, he'd been wise enough to wear short sleeves.

"So cool!" Even Sasuke sounded enthused as he and Riku eyed the leaf-like symbol, still red with irritation from the newness of the tattoo.

"Have you told Yamato-sensei yet?" Naruto inquired, looking equally proud.

Udon shook his head. "I just found out."

In his younger years, no one would have expected such a sickly child to eventually make ANBU, even after all the training in the world. But, ever since his parents had died fighting the biju in the Fourth Shinobi War, according to Naruto-sensei, he'd changed a lot.

Kagami and Sasuke hadn't even been born yet. Kagami only knew what others had told her. She'd never known anyone but the tough Udon who was dating her relative, but, according to both Uncle Taisou and Naruto-sensei, Udon had not always been that way. Having no family left when his parents died, his closest "relative" of sorts had been Uzuki Yuugao, who had dated his uncle Gekkou Hayate before the man was killed in a previous encounter with Suna.

After Yuugao took him in, considering she was a former ANBU, the rigor of his training had upped considerably. Things only got more interesting ten years later when Yuugao finally married, of all people, Naruto's Yamato-sensei. Anko and Kurenai had been very concerned with their friend's lack of desire for any sort of social interaction and, after much persuasion, convinced their friend to go on a blind date with the chronically single Yamato.

Much to everyone's surprise, including themselves, Yamato and Yuugao hit it off, and within a year, the two were married. Udon had been twenty-one at the time, and, considering Yamato was also former ANBU, Udon's training and desire to grow stronger only became more intense.

Then, when he finally decided to begin training for ANBU, he'd run into Hanabi after sitting next to her in one their formal classes, and the rest was history. The training for ANBU typically took two years before one could take their final exam. Udon had just taken his, and Hanabi's was scheduled for next week.

After that, making the ANBU squad seemed to be all anyone could talk about. Hanabi admitted to being nervous, and Naruto teased her about what she and Udon would do if he made it and she didn't.

The Hyuuga girl shot back with a snide comment of her own. Despite Hinata and Naruto's sweet encounters, the ones between Naruto and his sister-in-law were almost always teasing, bordering on family rivalry.

By the time their snark fest finished, it was dark outside and everyone decided to head home. Naruto-sensei paid everyone's bill, claiming it as part of the celebration. Hanabi and Udon thanked him and headed away, hand in hand.

"See everyone tomorrow bright and early!" Naruto said, turning to his team, and with a final wave, he was gone, too.

The three of them stood in silence outside the shop as they gathered their things to head home.

Riku left next. He and the twins lived on opposite sides of the village, so the blonde typically walked home by himself.

"See you guys tomorrow," Riku waved a fingerless gloved hand, his tone deadpan. "Don't want Kaa-chan wondering where I am." He concealed a yawn, scratched the back of his head, and headed off into the darkening evening.

Kagami and Sasuke began their walk back to the Hyuuga compound in silence. Approximately ten minutes in, Sasuke broke it.

"What do you think the mission tomorrow is going to be like?" her brother questioned.

"Meh. Probably boring, like all the others."

"We get to travel again," Sasuke said, trying to sound optimistic.

"True," Kagami admitted. "But another D rank?"

"Nee-san, we're only genin. It would be highly unusual for us to go on anything higher than a C."

"True, true." They hadn't even taken the chuunin exams yet. Now an annual experience, as opposed to the former bi-annual scheduling of Naruto-sensei's day, the three of them had been assigned an unfortunate schedule conflict to the non-shinobi Land of Tea and hadn't been able to attend the previous year.

Silence built up between them again but not for long.

"Assuming we make it that far," Sasuke began, "would you ever want to try out for ANBU, like Hanabi-san and Udon?"

Kagami's lips curved upward into a smile, and she lightly punched her brother in the arm.

"Assuming you and _Riku_ make it that far," she specified, a mischievous glint in her gray eyes. Sasuke just smiled back at her.

* * *

A crimson orb flashed from a rooftop above where the twins walked, watching the duo as sandaled feet turned a corner. A black cloak flittered in the light breeze of the rooftop, the darkness doing a great deal to conceal the bright orange color of a swirled mask.

"It's time," the red-eyed figure said. Although no one was listening, he still felt the words appropriate to vocalize.

He'd been patient. He'd waited. And all things considered, Konoha had practically forgotten him. Now it was time to remind them, beginning with these two.

* * *

"Jii-san!" Hyuuga Taisou stopped short as his nephew called the man's title. The elder Hyuuga peered around the corner of the kitchen to see his great-nephew standing behind the counter, tying the finishing knot on one of two bento boxes.

"Mission today?" Taisou questioned, to which Sasuke nodded.

"Naruto-sensei's last before the ceremony."

"And Kagami?"

"Still in her room. Said she was getting ready last I roused her, but she could still be—"

"Morning, Jii-san, Sasuke." Gray eyes turned to see a groggy expression and tousled hair hastily tied into a loose ponytail. She may not be entirely awake, but she was certainly up.

"Nee-san, what's the point of having such long hair if you hardly brush it?" Sasuke frowned.

Kagami returned the look, her sleep-filled eyes narrowed. "And for needing your eyes to see, you certainly keep a lot of hair in your face."

"Anyway," Sasuke sighed, ignoring his sister's comment, "I made an extra bento for you."

"Hn." Kagami had already grabbed a rice ball from a different plate on the counter and shoved it into her mouth, muffling the sound. With her free hand, she took the handkerchief-wrapped box from her brother.

'All packed for the mission?" Taisou inquired, noticing her backpack as she turned to place the bento box inside.

Kagami nodded, still chewing her rice ball.

"Mine's by the door," Sasuke added, smiling politely.

The dark-haired boy glanced at a nearby clock on the wall. "We should be heading out soon." His gaze returned to his uncle. "Wouldn't want to keep Riku or Naruto-sensei waiting."

"Oh, please," Kagami cut, brushing the last bits of rice from the tips of her fingers. "We'll probably be earlier than both of them."

Regardless, within the next two minutes, all bento boxes were packed and they were off. They made it to the bridge where Naruto had instructed them to meet, and, as Kagami predicted, they were the first ones there.

Riku came within the next ten minutes. His hair was mussed, like Kagami's, and he covered a yawn as he arrived, but his bags were packed and, even late, he was still here before Naruto-sensei.

When the blonde soon-to-be-hokage did arrive, even Sasuke had started to feel impatient. The young Hyuuga was the first to spot their teacher, an orange and yellow blob noticeable from seemingly miles away.

"Sorry, everyone!" Naruto waved, his smile apologetic. "Things got a little tied up at home."

Apparently with Hinata leaving early to visit Neji's grave before meeting with her new team and Kushina having done the same, Naruto was left to find a babysitter for Minato, his blonde-haired son who shared Uchiha Keiji's age, and his even younger daughter Akane, a fiery redhead with blue eyes and whisker markings on her cheeks to match Naruto.

In the end, he'd just taken the two of them to Ichiraku's for Ayame to look after, which was on the other side of town.

"Either way," Naruto finished, nervously scratching the back of his head, "we should be on our way!"

* * *

The first part of their journey mostly involved a lot of walking, not that Kagami minded. Naruto chatted a bit more, but Kagami was still too tired to care.

It wasn't until they reached the border at the edge of the Land of Fire that they stopped walking. This particular marker was a bridge with a gilded roof entrance supported by thick red pillars. The actually body of the bridge was a sleek gray mass that went on for longer than Kagami's eyes could see without the aid of her byakugan.

According to their teacher, a merchant who was making the trip at the same time as their team had already agreed to give the them a lift across on his oxen-drawn cart.

"You'll need your strength for later," Naruto had assured. "It's not that I doubt any of you are capable."

Kagami squinted, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her as she read the name of the bridge written in bold black kanji. Judging by Sasuke's expression, he noticed it, too, but since their sensei had not mentioned anything about it despite all previous other blabbering, they silently decided it best not to ask. Nonetheless, Kagami couldn't help but wonder why it was called "The Great Naruto Bridge."

So now, here they were. The surrounding temperature dropped significantly as they made it farther and farther down the bridge, which made sense considering the misty ocean air currently surrounding them, but that was hardly what bothered the raven-haired girl at the moment.

Considering all they had to do at the moment was wait and twirl kunai, she'd almost rather walk.

It hadn't been long. Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes? And it wasn't that she was claustrophobic or anything, but with all four of them riding in the back, there was hardly enough room in this rickety cart for anyone to move, the ride was unbelievably bumpy, she could feel Riku breathing on the back of her neck, and—

Before Kagami could finish that last thought, a wave of nausea swept over her as the cart hit a particularly unpleasant bump. Whatever little bit she had eaten for breakfast came back up as she vomited over the side of the cart, leaving an unpleasant surprise for whomever would be crossing over that particular spot next on the bridge.

"Oi, Kagami, you okay?" With her eyes tearing up, Kagami could only hear Naruto-sensei's voice as she felt her brother's hand—it had to be her brother's considering it was ungloved—rubbing comforting circles on her back while the other gripped her shoulder to ensure she wouldn't fall off by accident.

"Sorry, Nee-san. I forgot you get motion sick easily." The young Hyuuga laughed nervously as Kagami wiped her mouth, her narrowed gray eyes glaring death in all directions.

"I'm lying down," she announced, and with what little space she had, Kagami hugged her knees and assumed the fetal position beside the tarp-covered array of whatever it was exactly that this merchant sold.

But, just as her eyes closed and she began to silently wish she'd worn something warmer to ward off the cold sea air, as if her mind had been read, something thick and heavy—or at least thicker than the gray medium-sleeved shirt she was wearing—dropped onto her.

Her fingertips recognized the feel of denim-like material on a blue jacket with a popped collar while a subtly shivering Riku leaned above her.

"Idiot. You can't rest if you're too cold." His teeth were gritted as his arms hugged the fishnet material he wore beneath his jacket, but frankly, Kagami felt too sick to protest.

She murmured her thanks and at last closed her eyes long enough to drift away into a world of light sleep.

* * *

Relief washed over Sasuke as his sister's eyes closed and her breathing finally slowed, indicating she was asleep.

Riku sat in the middle of the cart, arms and legs crossed in an attempt to not look cold while Naruto stared off into the ocean below them, oddly silent, considering how boisterous their sensei had been mere minutes ago.

Sasuke passed the minutes soaking in the scenery, listening to the roaring waves of the ocean and counting the seagulls in the sky as he anticipating the bumps in the road, which luckily didn't make anyone else sick. A mere hour and a half in, even Naruto-sensei and Riku had dozed off, not surprising considering the early hour of their trip and the lack of actual movement, leaving Sasuke the sole conscious survivor of his team.

At least another hour passed until the scenery changed again, and it was not long after that when Sasuke recognized a similar structure to what he'd seen at the entrance of the bridge back near Konoha. Then the kindly merchant currently allowing them a lift, whose name was Masao if memory served, broke the silence with a resounding, "We're here!"

Riku and Naruto startled into sitting positions. Kagami, meanwhile, merely groaned.

A small group of approximately ten to fifteen people waited for them near the approaching entrance of the bridge, people dressed much more warmly than they were and waving with huge smiles on their faces. Naruto squinted, trying to discern the presences through the cover of the mist, and then seemed to recall his chakra-sensing abilities before beginning to wave wildly, as well.

 _Somedays, it's hard to believe he's powerful enough to be our next hokage…_

The first person Sasuke could distinguish was a dark-haired man approximately the age of Udon and Hanabi-san dressed in a straw hat and civilian clothes, who stood at the front of the group and captured their sensei in an immediate embrace.

"Inari!" Several pieces clicked together in Sasuke's head as Naruto called out the man's name. "It's been way too long!" Then Sasuke also noticed the dark-haired man's wedding ring. "Where's Tazuna?"

The one named Inari only grinned again as Sasuke saw Kagami yawn and begrudgingly return the blonde's jacket out of the corner of his eye.

"He's back at the house, or rather, soon-to-be-house with the rest of the team."

"Team?" Naruto looked questioningly as Masao waved goodbye to them. Sasuke and Naruto waved back and called out their thanks as the the merchant guided his oxen down a path in the opposite direction of Inari's group while Kagami and Riku caught up to them.

Inari nodded. "We're practically done for the day, so you guys have good timing. Wouldn't want to keep Kaa-chan or Mariko waiting."

"So this 'Mariko,'" Naruto's expression turned sly as he lightly elbowed Inari in the ribs. "Is she…?"

"Yep! We got married last month but Kaa-chan wants us to have our own place, so Grandpa Tazuna agreed to build one in the closest plot of land we could find!"

"Tazuna's still working construction, even after all this time?"

This time, Inari laughed. "Not exactly."

Sasuke definitely got a quaint village vibe from this place as Inari led them away from the bridge and toward his grandfather. Naruto was all smiles, even more so than usual, while Kagami made snide comments to Riku as she adjusted to walking again.

The village was small, much smaller than he was used to. They didn't have any shinobi, Sasuke noticed, only civilians. Merchants stood on street corners selling anything from fish to flowers to fruits and vegetables. The occasional family walked by, as well as some lone individuals on errands while children ran about, free of the shinobi headbands Sasuke was accustomed to seeing. People talked, people laughed. It was nothing spectacular.

But still, Naruto-sensei said, "Things look a lot better than they did when I last visited!"

Inari turned to him with a smile, dark eyes twinkling. "It's been almost twenty years!"

And, to that, a lot made sense.

It was only a ten minute walk until they reached the building site Inari had mentioned. The trip felt strangely short. Sasuke was used to the long commutes in Konoha—ten minutes was how long it took to get to the hokage's tower from the Hyuuga compound on a good day—and most buildings he saw on the way were diminutive compared to the crowded structures he knew from Konoha.

 _Must be the nostalgia factor romanticizing everything for Naruto-sensei,_ Sasuke decided.

The place Inari pointed to as his future home was a bustling lot bearing the bare bones of what would eventually be another house. The ground was already leveled, the foundation laid, and the rough framing in progress. It would be a bit before the roof and floor tiles could be laid, and even longer before they could begin installing any of the plumbing or electrical work. Definitely a work in progress.

Despite the glimpse of construction, Sasuke didn't have long to focus on the project before yet another person greeted them.

"Naruto-kun, Inari! You're back!" A very old man, probably in his eighties, waved at them. His hair bore a shocking white color, likely darker at some point in his life, and gathered in a receding widow's peak on his forehead, obscured partially at the moment by a bright yellow hardhat. Square glasses adorned his wrinkled face, his skin tan and freckled from what looked like long days working outside. Judging by the list of people Naruto had mentioned and the familiarity between them, this had to be Tazuna.

At the mention of Naruto's name, seemingly every worker stopped what they were doing to glance their way and see the blonde soon-to-be hokage and his team. The glance wasn't long, but everyone certainly shared it.

"It's hard to believe you're still going!" Naruto grinned and stepped forward to embrace the man, which he followed with a hearty pat on the back. "What your secret?"

"Grandpa Tazuna only supervises now, Naruto," Inari informed, and then his tone turned teasing. "His back gave out on him years ago."

"Now, now," Tazuna cut, his tone warning. "I _chose_ to retire from active labor."

Naruto glanced around the premise, his blue eyes wandering. "Where's Tsunami? Plus I still wanna meet this Mariko."

"Mari-chan is helping Mom with dinner back at the old house," Inari replied. "They're not far from here. We've been expecting you."

The four of them turned to follow Inari to the actually completed house, waiting only another short minute while Tazuna shouted to his workers that they were done for the day.

Inside Tazuna's residence, after everyone paused to remove their shoes, the twins and Riku stood off to the side as Naruto received yet another warm greeting, this time from a middle-aged woman with dark gray-streaked hair dressed in pink with a warm smile.

"Naruto!" she said. "It's so good to see you again! You've grown so much!"

"Guess there's a reason the bridge we crossed was named after him," Kagami murmured.

"And this must be your team!" Kagami's murmurings ceased and the air between them became highly self-conscious. The one named Tsunami bowed. "Pleased to meet you!"

"Please to meet you," the three of them chorused back and returned the bow.

"So what are all of your names?" Tsunami inquired, genuine interest in her tone. For some reason, all eyes turned to Riku first, probably because he was blonde-haired and blue-eyed like Naruto-sensei.

"Koizuki Riku." Color bloomed on the blonde's cheeks. Even as an only child, he wasn't used to this much attention.

"And you, beautiful girl?"

Kagami didn't blush, but she did sound slightly less harsh than usual.

"Hyuuga Kagami."

And lastly, their attention turned to the raven-haired boy. He spoke, oddly the most confidently of them all. "Hyuuga Sasuke."

"Oh." Inari, Tazuna, and Tsunami exchanged glances. "Another Sasuke?"

Naruto shrugged. "No relation to my ex-teammate, but Kagami-chan is his sister."

"Explains why you look so similar," Tsunami agreed, while Kagami winced at Naruto's use of the word "chan."

"They do kinda resemble Sasuke, though, don't they?" Inari mused, a finger tapped to his chin in a thinking pose.

"None that we know of," Sasuke assured, hands raised. "Uchiha-san and I merely share the same name."

"And the same dark hair!"

"Darling, be nicer to our guests. I'm sure they're all tired from their journey. Save your jokes for later!"

All eyes turned as a new voice spoke, this one female.

Another woman stood in the doorway leading to the kitchen from where Tsunami had just emerged. She appeared to be in her early twenties, her long brown hair tied off at the bottom with a soft blue bow and her eyes a sparkling spring green surrounded by an array of pleasantly freckled skin.

The rest of her outfit matched the blue bow in her hair, completing the look with a frilly white apron, but that was hardly what anyone focused on. With the lighting of the dining room, it was hard not to notice the gold wedding ring glinting on her finger. A ring that matched Inari's.

"Mariko." Inari spoke the woman's name warmly as their fingers intertwined and he kissed her cheek.

"So this is Mariko." Naruto's smile only grew wider until his enthusiasm burst into an aggressive thumbs up. "Nice going, Inari!"

She was pretty, Sasuke had to admit, but a little to civilian for his taste. Still, the freckles complemented her well.

"So," Tsunami began, her hands clapping together. "Who's hungry?"

* * *

Kisame slurped a plentiful serving of soba noodles with a disinterested look as silver eyes scanned the cover of one of the useless magazines he'd filched from the hotel lobby.

It felt weird to be back so near to the Mist village after all these years, hiding in the shadows and attempting to keep a terrifying physique like his hidden from sight. He didn't even have anyone to fight and channel his frustration on.

In the least, the room was nice. There was a privacy curtain and Madara had just brought back a meager dinner of soba noodles from a nearby takeout. Not his favorite, but nonetheless, it was something, and for that Kisame was grateful.

Madara hadn't said much to describe their current mission, only that Kisame was accompanying him as backup should an emergency arise. That had been his excuse for not using Zetsu, anyway.

"Don't eat too much, Kisame. You won't have any left for tomorrow." The shark's eyes narrowed at the sound his leader's tone. Fifteen years ago, back during the days of Pein, or Nagato, as he was apparently named, Kisame would have never dreamed of openly expressing such disrespect. However, being nearly all that was left of the original group, back when they still donned the now-too-easily-recognizable black and red garb, he and Kisame had grown comfortable with each other, even bordering on friendly.

Others had come and gone from their organization. Gone, Kisame said, because when most of the newly recruited members became bored with Madara's ambiguous plans and odd demands, they would want to leave and then mysteriously, "disappear" as the one formerly known as Tobi liked to put it.

Kisame didn't care, either way. Even after all this time, he still had no place else to go. He was too easily recognizable to blend into any life elsewhere, and too lazy to bother with a henge or learning another craft. Being a ninja, even a missing nin, what he was good at and he intended to keep it that way.

"What else am I supposed to do sitting here waiting for your 'signal'?"

"Patience, Kisame."

"You always fucking say that." Kisame slammed aside his noodles a bit rougher than necessary. "Why am I here?"

The Akatsuki leader paused, probably wearing a thinking expression behind that mask of his. Kisame didn't know why he still bothered to wear the thing. He'd already seen his face. Habit, perhaps?

"Do you know," Tobi began, his tone careful, "who exactly is on Uzuamki Naruto's three man team?"

Kisame shrugged, his eyes narrowed. "Who cares?"

"A young blonde named Koizuki Riku," Kisame seemed unamused at the mention of Deidara's next of kin, "and two young twins named Hyuuga Kagami and Hyuuga Sasuke."

Kisame stopped short. Tobi couldn't even imagine the thoughts going through his head. Those twins—he hadn't thought about the two of them or their mother in years. Their father was a slightly different story, but he had a rather good reason for that one.

"Itach's twins are under _Naruto_?" The notion just… surprised him, is all. "Does he have any idea who they are?"

"None whatsoever." There was a humorous air to the man's disposition. "That's part of why I'm here."

"To…?"

"To show them their true potential. Not just the twins, if all goes well. Which is where I may need you, so please, Kisame. Just wait a little bit longer."

With a sigh, Kisame turned his attention back to the soba noodles, chopsticks still in hand.

"Fine," he capitulated. "But you at least owe me breakfast."

* * *

First off, apologies this took so much longer than I intended to post. For one, it took forever before I was even mildly satisfied with how this chapter turned out, and when I did try to set aside the time to edit, school kept getting in the way. In fact, I have an exam in about… eh, four hours. Plenty of time to finish up my study guide.

Next chapter coming soon. It's when most of the action happens. It's mostly written, I just need to get it to a point where I don't recoil and palm my forehead when I read it.

Thank you all for your patience. Just one more thing I want to mention is that MY STORY HAS FANART! And not just one, but TWO pictures, drawn by the talented ChezzyEm on deviantart (or xXChirushiXx on fanfiction). The link can be found on my profile, because fanfiction can be really weird about posting links. Please let me know if it doesn't work. I cannot even begin to say how much I appreciate the notion! It's really cool to see how a reader visualizes what I've written.

Reviews are appreciated. If you have nothing nice to say, please press the back button.


	3. Chapter 3

"So what else is new around here?" Naruto inquired, unsurprisingly, through a mouthful of rice. Ever the impolite one. Although with the mass of eight people gathered around the tiny wooden table, even in their newly renovated kitchen completed by none other than Tazuna himself, most of them were too crowded to care.

"Well," Tazuna began, "ever since you and your Team got rid of Gato and we were able to finish the bridge, businesses here have been able to expand and trade more easily with other countries."

Riku quirked an eyebrow. "Does anything interesting happen around here?"

Thankfully, rather than taking offense, Inari answered, "There's been talk that the mizukage reinstated the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist under legal authority. With all new members and everything!"

"Really?" Naruto's expression changed to one of pure shock. "Choujiro did that? Who all's in it?"

"Well, including the current mizukage, there's more like five members at the moment. They're still working on a sixth and seventh. But the one people typically talk about around here is 'Ouji.'"

"Ouji?" Sasuke echoed. The Prince.

"Dumb name," Kagami murmured into her chopsticks.

Riku, however, was quite interested. "Who is he?"

"He's not quite Zabuza," Inari admitted, "but it's been said he's descended from the thought-dead Yuki clan."

"Like Haku?"

Inari nodded. "Not just that! I hear he's got just as many kills to his record."

"He wears a mask, too!" This time, Mariko chimed in, her tone oddly dreamy. "All that's known for sure is his skill, the mask he wears, and the fact he has long dark hair!" Inari's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but Mariko continued nonetheless. "I wonder how he got the name 'Ouji.' There's been so much speculation, but no one knows for sure!"

"Now, now," Tazuna interrupted, "I'm sure Naruto and his team didn't come here to fight another swordsman."

Kagami looked hopeful for a moment, prompting her brother to speak before she said anything disrespectful or careless.

"So what exactly will we be doing tomorrow? Naruto-sensei mentioned construction work, but what kind specifically?"

"It's still so weird to hear someone call you 'sensei'!" Inari teased, to which Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"Well," Tazuna continued, "we're still working on finishing the framework. We're almost done outlining the walls. Then we can start on the roof."

"About how long do you think it'll take?"

Naruto may be the next hokage, but he knew next to nothing about building houses. Frankly, save for Inari and Tazuna, none of them did.

"Well, with the team we have, we can probably manage to finish the framing and exteriors within the next few weeks."

"So, what exactly do you want our help on?" Riku asked, clearly confused. "None of us are construction experts. Where does being a ninja come into all of this?"

The room went silent. Tsunami and Mariko looked away, and Tazuna and Inari exchanged uncomfortable glances. Then, Tazuna spoke.

"There have been a few… _issues_ that we could use your expertise on during the construction process."

"Such as…?" Naruto trailed off. Sasuke gazed at the carpenter duo curiously.

"A lot of my men have been getting injured on the job lately. We have enough people that it wasn't much of an issue at the start, but lately things have gotten to the point where it's been interfering with our desired schedule. Some people even think the project is cursed."

"Don't injuries normally happen in this line of work?" Kagami inquired. They certainly did in the ninja world.

"True," Tazuna admitted, "but the rates have been unusually high and depressingly preventable. Falling beams, unfastened screws, things of that nature. Things my men should know better than to do."

"So you think someone is sabotaging the project?" Sasuke surmised. Tazuna nodded. "Why?"

"No idea." This time, Inari spoke, shrugging. "Our family has no enemies that we know of and as we said, the days of Gato and his cronies are long gone. Mariko's family absolutely loves me, so it can't be them, and all the workers Grandpa assigned for this project have been with us for years."

"It could be nothing," Tazuna added. "We just want you here to help keep an eye out, to speed things up, and perhaps do what you can to prevent any more unnecessary accidents. This may be our trade, but none of us have reflexes quite like any of you."

"Then why didn't they send a team with a healing nin?" Kagami questioned, her fingers tapping impatiently beneath the table.

"If anyone can find what's really going on, it's you, Naruto!" Confidence radiated in the young man's dark eyes. "We believe in you!"

Dinner didn't last much longer after that. Riku, Kagami, and Sasuke volunteered to help Tsunami and Mariko with the dishes, making the job a great deal faster, while Tazuna, Inari, and Naruto continued to catch up in the opposite room.

By the time it became late enough to sleep, Naruto was directed to his own room, which had formerly been Inari's when he was a child. Mariko and Inari left the area for what they described as "privacy," which made sense considering their newly wed status, before Tazuna went to bed, as well, pleading old age. This left Tsunami to show Kagami, Sasuke, and Riku to the guest bedroom, where apparently Naruto and the rest of his genin team had slept during their visit twenty years ago.

Tsunami was a nice person. Very motherly, partly from intrinsic nature and partly in anticipation of grandkids, if Sasuke had to guess. He watched as she retrieved bedding for each of them from the closet near the door and regaled the three of them with tales of their sensei. How small he and his team had been, her opinions of Sakura and the elder Sasuke—all nice, of course—and especially how competitive Naruto and Sakura-san's future husband had been. But, as Hyuuga Sasuke stole a glance away while Tsunami stooped down to lay their cots on the floor and fluff the pillows, it became painfully obvious he was the only one paying Tsunami a word of attention.

"Sleep well, you three!" Tsunami called with a tone of finality, her hand waving as she left the room. "See you in the morning for breakfast."

Morning did come and far too early at that. Even Sasuke, who considered himself a morning person, felt the drag. Kagami hid her exhaustion behind a wall of stoicism, and Riku made no effort to hide at all, messy hair, tired eyes, and all.

They ate an impressive breakfast, once again Tsunami and Mariko's collaboration, before heading off to their so-called "work." In the very least, the journey was short.

The first thing Tazuna did when they reached the site at the early hour of five a.m. was find them all hardhats to wear. It felt weird, Sasuke had to admit, donning those strange yellow hats, which frankly didn't fit particularly well, but Tazuna had insisted it was "policy," regardless of anyone's ninja status. It had been difficult enough to convince him that wearing their open-toed ninja shoes was the only option and none of them possessed any close-toed alternatives.

At Naruto-sensei's instruction, Riku was assigned to help the roofing crew prepare, while Sasuke and Naruto joined in assisting with the final woodwork for the walls. Kagami, much to her chagrin, was on supervising/management duty with Tazuna.

If Sasuke were being honest, so far, this felt like a very strange internship. Granted, the day had only just begun, and most of them were considerably fast learners. A good number of his temporary new teammates already seemed impressed with the Konoha nin's strength and speed, especially considering Riku and Sasuke's age. Despite the praise, others still disagreed, saying "What are these children, these people doing here, interfering with my job?"

Sasuke could understand the sentiment but tried to ignore the burning gazes on his back and instead focus on Naruto-sensei's smile in front of him. They were just here following orders. Whether people liked them for it or not, the four of them had a job to do and, at the moment, this was his.

* * *

Grays eyes darted from side to side as Kagami walked about with Tazuna. He was still surprisingly spry for his age, Kagami observed, despite Inari's description of "back problems." The elderly man, in between barking orders and instructions, took the time to introduce her to everyone. In the least, it gave her something to memorize rather than feeling bored out of her mind.

The first person she could recall was a dark-skinned man named Takumi, whose name she could only remember because it was the same as Saya's younger brother. The next was a stocky brunette masonry specialist named Jirou, who Tazuna proudly proclaimed as his "second in command." Then another red-headed fellow named Kotaru and a medium skinned man with dark hair named Iteki.

Most names blurred for Kagami after that, except for one other person.

They were far enough into the day that the majority of the workforce had turned to constructing the roof. The one who caught her attention was one of the men working to help fasten the wooden pieces of the soon-to-be overheard structure into place. And that, she could only recall because of the look he gave her.

He stood on a ladder. A worn-looking tool belt hung from narrow hips as his gloved hands held a plank in place for the much stronger-looking Jirou to hammer. His was thin, his face drawn enough for his cheekbones to show, and the hair peeking through his yellow helmet was dark, like hers, only streaked with gray like Tsunami's. Judging by his stance and the way his entire head turned to the side to look in her direction, the narrowed eyes and pursed lips were definitely intended for her. The expression wasn't quite a glare, but it definitely wasn't a smile.

Not that Kagami cared if these people liked her or not. She was aware she was the only female on the premise, and a teenager at that. But it wasn't stigma or prejudice that she saw in his gaze, either. Kagami couldn't quite put her finger on it. It was a look that plainly told her, "You shouldn't be here."

Whatever his motivation, she didn't like the thin man's gaze.

After introductions, Kagami wasn't given the chance to do much else but stand by wait. Everything she learned today was completely new, so she couldn't even help give instructions, not that anyone would actually listen to her if she were allowed to. She envied her teammates. At least Sasuke and Riku were physically able to do something.

"Hey, Tazuna!"

Before her thoughts could go anywhere too dark, an obnoxiously cheery tone interrupted her musings. Kagami turned to see Tazuna's "second in command," the one named Jirou who, mere seconds ago, had been assisting the thin man, but was now walking over to her and the elderly manager. Nonetheless, unlike the weird creepy guy, he actually smiled.

Up close, she noted Jirou possessed a tool belt similar to the one the thin man possessed, although the mason's hips were far less narrow. Bulky, if she had to pick an adjective. The most prominent tool she could discern was a hammer, which she'd seen him using mere minutes ago, among an array of strew drivers and a few utensils she honestly couldn't name.

His top was a sleeveless dark green shirt, already slick with sweat, and his pants were capri-length khaki's, albeit not very clean ones. He practically exuded what she would imagine to be a typical construction worker archetype, complete with faint white scars over his exposed his forearms from what Kagami guessed was a buildup of accidents over the years.

"Ah, this must be one of the Konoha nins ya orders," Jirou stated. His eyes which were a dark purple, almost black color, scanned her and Kagami resisted the urge to shiver. Good or bad, she hardly ever enjoyed the attention. "Kyoko, was it?"

"Kagami."

"Right. Well, good to have you!"

"Such a wonder," Tazuna sighed as Jirou walked away. Kagami raised an eyebrow, prompting him to explain.

"His son's been sick. Chronic illness. Been that way since birth and the kid's only ten years old. His wife cares for him, but medicine is expensive, even with all our trade expansions. His wife stays home with the boy, but Jirou's been here for almost twenty years. Watched Inari grow, attended his wedding, and kept coming here for work as long as I've been in charge. Dunno how he does it."

"Hn." Undoubtedly a sad story, but coming from a village previously ravaged by the Fourth Shinobi War, she'd certainly heard worse. Her gaze lolled to the side until they rested on the thin man from earlier, who now worked alone.

"What's his story?"

"Oh, Shigeru?" Despite the unsettling feeling she got from the man, Tazuna merely shrugged. "He came here about five years ago. Admittedly, I still don't know much about him, but he's qualified and does good work."

She watched in silence as the carpenter, apparently named Shigeru, did his job. It looked tedious, hammering plank after plank in the same manner as all the others. How could they know for sure everything was secure? Hadn't Jirou just been helping him? What would happened if someone—

Kagami didn't even have time to finish her thought. Jirou walked by just as her eyes noticed the beam begin to sway. Before her mind could even comprehend what her body was doing, Kagami moved, rushing forward faster than any non-ninja's reflexes could carry them. The Hyuuga girl rolled, taking the stocky man with her as she did so. Hardly a moment later, something crashed violently behind them.

Voices buzzed as the dust cleared. As suspected, the thin man still resided on the ladder, gripping the soon-to-be roof for stability and well enough out of range of the fallen wooden beam to not be harmed. But, were it not for her, Jirou wouldn't have been.

Kagami jumped to her feet more quickly than Jirou, brushing herself off before stooping over to pick up her fallen helmet as the taller man regained his senses.

Tazuna was the first to run over to them, even out of Naruto-sensei.

"Is everyone all right?" the elderly man said, concern evident in his tone.

Kagami nodded curtly, and at last Jirou rose to his feet as well, rubbing the back of his neck, likely due to whiplash from Kagami's sudden tackle.

"Wha… what just happened?" Jirou's words were a sputtering mess. But, before his question could be answered, Naruto came stumbling over.

"A beam nearly took Jirou's head off," Kagami explained calmly. "We're fine, though."

"Are these the kind of accidents you were talking about?" Naruto-sensei's voice was low, almost inaudible, but Tazuna's nod was more than enough.

"Nothing from that high of a height, though. Even Jirou's helmet wouldn't have saved him there."

"Nee-san!" Next came Sasuke and Riku, who unlike the others, knew she was fine after just one glance.

"All right everyone," Tazuna called, his hands raised. "Everything's fine. Just another accident. Konoha nins are doing their job. Just be more careful and keep your helmets on!"

As luck would have it, even with all the hours left in the day, little else happened. A few of the men congratulated her on fast reflexes, and although she would have preferred her skills to remain unnoticed, in the least, it earned her some credibility.

Regardless, the raven-haired girl's mind raced as she considered the possibilities. Was she missing something? Had Shigeru been the culprit? His origins were certainly shady, but that didn't automatically make him guilty. Falling beams like that were hardly a reliable method of assassinating someone. Had it truly just been an accident? Perhaps Tazuna's paranoia that someone may be trying to sabotage his project was not unfounded.

As if it were planned, a strange presence sprang to life on Kagami's radar at that very moment, only succeeding to distract her further. Her head whipped to the side, byakugan activated, but just as she began to scan, the presence disappeared just as quickly as it had come.

"Is everything all right, Kagami?" By the time her kekki genkai deactivated, Tazuna gazed at her questioningly from the sudden movement.

She concealed the action with an innocent smile. "Just thought I heard something." Didn't need to go spreading rumors before she had proof, nor did she want to alarm the man with her sudden change in eye color. That could have been anything. Today's scare had already been more than enough.

Regardless, whatever she'd felt had definitely been shinobi, but she didn't recognize it. There weren't any other ninja around here. Could she have just been imagining things?

* * *

Tobi chuckled to himself as he teleported away from the scene, a smug satisfaction brewing inside him at being able to witness the impressive reaction time of the elder Uchiha twin. Even with Kakashi's attempts to stifle their potential…

He'd been right to bribe that construction worker. Just be careless. Make a few mistakes here and there. No one needs to get hurt too badly. Just keep them on their toes.

That was what he'd told him, but not exactly what Tobi intended. Granted, Tazuna had many projects in the past since the new hokage's last visit almost twenty years ago, but this was the first project since then that was truly _personal._ A new house for his grandson and his new wife. And, if an abnormal amount of things kept going wrong, Tazuna would reach out to the Konoha nins and of course it would be Naruto's team that went out to investigate—for fuck's sake, the bridge from Konoha to the Land of Waves was named after the guy.

All was happening according to plan. For once, things actually seemed to be going well.

* * *

By the time early evening hit and the area began to darken, it was time to call it a day, and Kagami still hadn't seen or felt that strange presence again.

She tried, she really did, to push the thought to the back of her mind.

It certainly helped to know that Tsunami and Mariko would have dinner waiting for them when they got back. Especially comforting, considering both of them were way better cooks than Taisou. Granted, the man did try, he just wasn't gifted in that particular area, which was part of the reason, Kagami knew, that Sasuke had taken it upon himself to learn how to cook, make lunches, and all that other domestic nonsense, because before them, Taisou had never had to.

But then dinner was over and it was time for bed. Sasuke and Riku complained of sore muscles from the day's work. Kagami attempted a compensation by allowing them first dibs on the downstairs shower and saving her turn for last. After that, they donned pajamas and finished preparing for bed, but the three of them hardly intended to sleep quite yet.

"I miss Saya," Sasuke sighed as he tentatively rubbed his shoulder with one hand. Their bedspreads lay in a row with Sasuke's nearest to the door, Kagami's in the middle, and Riku's beside the window. "She'd be able to do something about this neck pain."

Riku nodded in agreement, already lying face down on his pillow, gloves still on his hands despite being in his nightclothes. Kagami knew why. Sasuke knew why. But Naruto-sensei remained oblivious.

"What do you guys think of the other workers?" Kagami asked, almost suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Riku inquired, removing his face from the soft pillow's surface to look up at her. "You mean if I think any of them are actually causing the accidents like Tazuna and Inari mentioned?"

Before Kagami could nod, Sasuke cut in with, "That was a cool move you did, Nee-san, saving Jirou-san from that board falling on him."

"So you don't think it was accidental?" she gathered from his response. Sasuke and Riku exchanged a glance. Both of them now sat up.

"I'm… not really sure," Sasuke admitted, trying to choose his words carefully. "I wasn't there to see what you did."

 _As much as I don't enjoy it, it definitely worked out that I got assigned to supervising with Tazuna-san._ None of them would have any information regarding the true goal of the mission were it not for her currently ridiculous amount of free time.

"Guess we'll just have to look closer tomorrow?" Riku shrugged, oddly nonchalant.

"I guess." Kagami's face went blank as she contemplated the day's events. Should she tell them about the weird presence she felt? About the odd stares Shigeru had been giving her?

But, as Sasuke got up to turn off the light, Kagami felt the exhaustion of the day, even if she hadn't exerted quite the physical effort that Sasuke and Riku had, begin to wash over her.

 _Tomorrow,_ Kagami told herself. She would worry about these things tomorrow. And, with that, the dark-haired girl laid her head down and slept soundly until the following morning.

* * *

Somehow, nothing else happened the next day. Even with Sasuke and Riku's promises to keep a closer look, none of them noticed anything out of the ordinary. No more objects were dropped. No one made an egregious error. Hardly anyone so much as tripped. It was almost tooperfect.

Shigeru continued giving Kagami the odd stares, but merely left it at that. As for Tazuna, when he wasn't giving orders, he rambled on about "old times," as one would imagine from their grandparents to do, if she had any. In the least, she got to learn a little more about what Naruto-sensei had done to get a bridge named after him and who those "Zabuza" and "Haku" people had been.

She heard a few stories about Inari and the person he used to be—apparently a sniveling, whiny kid—as well as some grandfatherly gushing regarding his new granddaughter-in-law and a hope for living to see his great-grandchildren, but still, nothing unusual.

Things continued this way for a total of two days. At one point, Kagami briefly considered firmly informing the elderly manager that she was just as capable as any of the boys at helping out, but, as he told her story after story, she decided against it. It had probably been forever since anyone had listened to him like this, rather than just writing him off as a senile old man. That, and it was good practice for intel gathering.

It wasn't until the third day, unbeknownst to Team Naruto, that anything interesting happened again.

Kagami still hadn't told Riku or her brother about that strange presence, partly because she wasn't sure if they would believe her, and partly because she hadn't seen or felt it again and wasn't entirely sure if _she_ believed it herself.

In the meantime, she kept her eyes on Shigeru as much as she could without drawing attention. Takumi, Jirou—they were all acting normally. Naruto-sensei was even becoming oddly chummy with most of the workers as they oohed and aahed at the impressive array of scars and muscle tissue on the soon-to-be hokage after he removed his shirt, partly for convenience and partly to show off, knowing him.

They were so disruptive, in fact, that that Kagami had failed to notice that now Shigeru was nowhere to be found. The ladder she'd last seen him standing on was empty, and she had no idea how long he had been gone.

Suspicion growing, Kagami completely missed the fact that Tazuna that was now a good several meters ahead of her, chatting with another worker while the one named Jirou passed her by, looking as if he were about to ask Tazuna a question.

Jirou yelped as Kagami activated her byakugan, her eyes suddenly becoming milky white with prominent veins appearing on either side of her temples.

In the least, it only took one quick scan before she spotted Shigeru again.

Without so much as a word, Kagami took off in aforementioned direction, only causing poor Jirou to yelp once again as this strange girl with the white eyes jumped away. The only thing left was her helmet on the ground, which had fallen off as she began to run.

No one else seemed to notice as Kagami left the construction site. She wanted to see where he would go or who he would potentially return to when he thought no one else was watching.

For whatever reason, Shigeru ventured as far as the forest. For such a tiny man, he could certainly move quickly. He didn't stop until he reached a small clearing complete with pale grass and high trees. The thin man stopped at the foot of one of the tall trees, and by the look of it, he had something in his hands.

Kagami focused her vision, attempting to see exactly what that was, but her concentration broke as she took a step forward and accidentally stepped on a twig, mentally cursing herself as Shigeru's head jolted to the side.

"What are you doing here?"

Kagami drew a kunai, her byakugan pulsating as she stepped back to settle into a stance. But, rather than being allowed to complete her footwork, she bumped into something, or rather, someone.

She'd been so focused on following Shigeru that she'd missed another presence altogether.

"Jirou-san?" His face was set in a smile, like it usually was, only this one was a lot more… sinister?

It only made her recoil all the more when she saw what had been cupped in Shigeru's hands was none other than a baby bird, or at least one of diminutive size with what looked like an injured wing.

 _He was taking it… away from the construction site?_

That explained why he had disappeared from so suddenly. That structure had been up for a while. Long enough for a bird with an injured wing to nest there, apparently.

Jirou made a point to grab at her shoulder, which Kagami's body moved in its own to avoid.

After dodging, she settled back into her Hyuuga stance, her heart racing as she saw Jirou remove a tool from his worn-looking belt: the same hammer she'd seen him using earlier.

"Sorry, Kagami-chan," Jirou began, his expression dark. "It's nothing personal. I was offered a hefty sum to take you or any of your teammates out."

"Any of us?" Kagami's eyes widened. Someone had ordered them to be killed? But why—?!

"Watch out!" Before Kagami could fully register what happened, she felt the thin man's hand on her shoulder as he pulled her out of reach from Jirou's first swing.

Instead, the hammer made contact with the thin man's forearm, and Kagami watched in horror as a resounding crack echoed through the forest and her byakugan witnessed the bone of his forearm snap.

"Move, Shigeru!" Jirou commanded. "I have no qualm with you!"

But he didn't and the next place Kagami saw Jirou hit was Shigeru's leg as the thin man's arms came up to protest his center line. Now plopped on the ground in a haphazard heap, Shigeru couldn't move.

She was on her own.

It was the strangest thing, what happened after that. With Shigeru down, Jirou lunged toward her. This time Kagami didn't freeze, not just because of her training, but because she could actually… see what was going to happen next?

Possibilities flashed before her eyes as she dodged his next attack, but the feeling left as quickly as it came when the man's failed lunge turned into a punch with his opposite hand. This one hit her straight in the face, and although Kagami went flying, she was hardly finished. A streak of blood slid from the left side of her mouth, but she wiped it away with a cocky smile.

If anything, all that had done was wake her up.

The raven-haired girl pushed herself back to her feet from the forest floor. Her byakugan wasn't activated, but for whatever reason, she felt like it didn't need to be. And not that she thought her death glare was all that scary, but Jirou's expression changed from homicidal to petrified in an instant.

"What the hell…" she heard the words, but didn't know exactly why, not that she had time to question much of anything. But had she been able to see through the mason's eyes, she would be able to see the sharingan glaring back at him with a single spinning black tomoe.

Kagami charged forward, uttering a battle cry. She clutched a kunai in her right hand as Jirou blindly swung at her again, now recovered from whatever had caused that brief shock.

She dropped to her knees just in time for it to be a surprise, sliding past the man as her weapon raked across the inner arm of his right hand. If her aim had been correct, which it almost always was, he wouldn't be able to hold that hammer for much longer.

Kagami back flipped to avoid his next hit, then ran sideways up the nearest tree, channeling chakra to the bottom of her feet to maintain her stance.

Jirou had switched hands by now, and as Kagami launched herself in his direction, he attempted to hit her before she could land. It didn't work and this time Kagami aimed her kunai for his leg, shoving the weapon into his flesh and then dropping to sweep out both his feet for good measure.

Jirou crashed to the ground, his right arm slit and his left leg bleeding profusely from the most recent stab wound. Judging by the way he screamed, this particular injury was the first of its kind for him, despite the impressive array of scars she'd seen on his forearms.

Kagami executed another back flip to give herself some distance, eyes scanning for additional presences. She sensed two people headed her way, but they were hardly hostile.

"Sasuke? Riku?"

Within seconds, her brother and teammate appeared, worried expressions on their faces. Sasuke had his byakugan activated. In the least, it explained how they had found her.

"What happened?" Riku demanded, skidding to a stop in front of the raven-haired girl. His gaze rested on the bleeding construction worker behind her and the other, semi-conscious man even further back.

"This one tried to kill me." Kagami cocked her head in Jirou's direction.

"W-why?" Sasuke stuttered. "What are you even doing out here? You shouldn't—"

"I was following a lead with Shigeru-san. Turns out he was just returning some poor misplaced bird to the forest," Kagami cut off, albeit sheepishly.

"So _Jirou's_ the one behind the sabotages?"

Sasuke gave the bleeding man a shocked look. Kagami smirked only to be reminded of the bruise on her face as she made the expression before drawing another kunai.

"Wanna find out?"

It barely took any persuasion, honestly, for the three of them to find out the story behind everything. Jirou had been bribed by an unknown masked man for months to make little mistakes here and there to scare off the workers from Inari's soon-to-be house and maybe even make someone believe it was haunted. Then, when they had shown up, he'd been ordered by the same odd man to kill one, two, or all of them for a much bigger sum.

"So you don't know why either?!" Kagami exclaimed, exasperated.

"I went after you because I thought you would be the easiest," he admitted. Kagami scoffed.

 _Should've gone after Riku…_

"I just... the medicine for my son is so expensive, and I was just offered so much money—"

"And you didn't even bother to ask why?!" Kagami exploded, and without realizing it, her sharingan flashed again.

He went silent before anyone else could speak. A new presence appeared, this one in a gust of wind seemingly out of nowhere.

The formerly silent Shigeru squeaked, reminding Kagami of the thin man's apparently innocent presence. But, rather than looking at him, three sets of eyes turned to the new figure.

A chill ran down Kagami's spine as she saw a hooded figure with a mask of swirled orange peeking out from beneath the dark material of his hood, the only trace of color in his otherwise drab outfit.

"It was me," he said. The hood came down, revealing a full view of his mask, where only one eyehole had been carved. That eye was red.

But, before Kagami could react, an ungloved hand seized her wrist, and the next thing Kagami knew, Sasuke had shoved his sister behind him.

* * *

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at whoever this figure was who had just admitted to ordering someone to kill them. He gripped a kunai in his left hand, ready to slice or be thrown, and his grip on it only tightened when this strange figure stepped forward.

When his eyes met the man's single one, his vision began to feel very strange as his body prepared itself for battle.

"Now, now," the man began, both his hands extended to the side in a pacifistic manner. "Calm down, Sasuke. I'm not here to hurt you."

"How do you know my name?"

And, little did he know, as he stared into Uchiha Obito's sharingan, his eyes spun with a single black tomoe just as Kagami's had mere minutes ago.

"Oh, Sasuke." The figure chuckled. "You'll find I know a lot more about you than just your name."

"Real fucking convincing coming from a guy who claims to want us dead," Riku snapped. But, despite the earth user's outburst, the man remained cool.

"Now, now, _Riku_." This time, his words emphasized a different name. "I know that may not be your only mouth, but do you really have to use it for such foul language?"

The blonde stopped dead in his tracks. Even Sasuke nearly dropped his kunai. All they could manage to think was, _How did he know?_

"Wait, what?" Shigeru's voice this time. The figure's eyes narrowed in the thin man's direction, and it took until that moment for Sasuke to realize their mystery visitor's eye was red with none other than the sharingan.

 _Another Uchiha?_ All the original ones had died in that horrible tragedy except for Sakura's husband, right?

"Oh, you're still here?" The Uchiha's gaze momentarily diverted to the two construction workers, both currently immobile from their injuries. But with one flash of the man's eye, the two of them slumped forward, either unconscious or dead.

"What did you just do?!" Sasuke demanded. He hoped they weren't dead. Could they be? Could the sharingan do that? Come to think of it, his eyes were feeling strange again as the orange-masked man took another step toward them.

"Relax, they are merely asleep," he assured, although Sasuke hardly felt better. "However, when they awake, neither of them will remember any of this happening."

"Who are you?" This time Kagami spoke. "Who are you and why do you have the sharingan?"

"You can call me Tobi," the man introduced, his hands tucked casually behind his back. "Pleased to meet you, Sasuke, Kagami… Riku."

"You still haven't answered any of our other questions, _Tobi._ "

"Amusing, coming from you, Kagami," Tobi chuckled. "Here you are, demanding what I'm doing sporting the sharingan when the two of you are too blind to see what going on in your own eyes."

Perhaps out of paranoia and maybe just a tinge of curiosity, the twins stole a glance at each other. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for both of them to see the color change.

This time, Sasuke did drop his kunai as he and his sister stared incredulously at one another. Riku, meanwhile, gazed hopelessly ahead at Obito.

"How…?" Kagami began, trailing off.

"Is this possible?" Sasuke finished, still staring.

Tobi just laughed again.

"I believe you will find there's lots about yourselves that you do not know. No matter. I'm glad you managed to activate yours, as well, Sasuke. Saves me the trouble of hiring someone else to try to kill you."

"What the hell…?" Sasuke heard Riku murmur just behind him.

"It appears none of you have ever been in a life or death situation quite like this before." Tobi sighed. "Such peaceful times we live in. Shame. I suppose the soon-to-be-former hokage's efforts were not in vain."

"Kakashi-sama? _You_ know Kakashi-sama?" Kagami's tone turned dubious. Her crimson eyes narrowed. "You better start making sense. _Fast._ "

"I paid off Jirou to test you. To see if you or Sasuke-kun were actually capable of unlocking your bloodline limit."

"We already have," Sasuke retorted. "We're Hyuugas."

"Yes," Tobi admitted. But then his body language changed and he said, "But also no."

Silence.

"You see, Kagami, Sasuke," the masked man began, "both of you are indeed of Hyuuga heritage, but a much more powerful bloodline also exists within you, as you have just witnessed." He stepped back this time, his body language once again changing. "As you may have guessed, the other bloodline within you is Uchiha."

"Impossible!" Kagami spat.

"Perhaps. However, I must say, Kagami, with your last fight that did not entirely look like a Hyuuga fighting style."

"I just reacted," she muttered. She hadn't been thinking all that hard about it.

"Where do I come into this?" Riku spoke this time, his tone tentative.

"Well, as I mentioned before, I am aware of the … peculiarity that you hide beneath your shirt and behind those gloves." And, even a second time, Riku still looked taken aback. "All this time, you've been fighting against them, calling it a 'deformity.'" His words were oddly familiar. "But what if I told you that those mouths aren't a deformity at all?"

Riku scoffed. "Then I would tell you you're full of it."

"Haven't you ever wondered why all you've been sent on is stupid missions? Why the _hokage_ saw it fit to send you away during the same time as last year's chuunin exams? The first year you would have been eligible?"

Silence, once again. Tobi took that as an affirmative "Go on."

"I am here to tell you that all of that was planned. Intentional. Kakashi _wanted_ to hold you back. He and Tsunade both wanted to keep you in the dark."

"Dark about what?" Sasuke's tone, in the least, sounded a lot more curious than his sister's. "Why would either of them care about us _?_ "

"Your true potential." As if it were planned, a gust of wind blew through the area, ruffling everyone's hair and adding to the suspense.

From there, the one named Tobi brought a gloved hand out from underneath his cloak and formed a hand sign. Spirals began to appear from seemingly nowhere behind him, and before anyone could think to act, he spoke again.

"I'll be in touch. If you want to know more, meet me by the Konoha memorial stone four days from now, at noon. If you tell anyone of this, I will not be there, and believe me, I will know if you do."

By now, the portal obscured approximately half his form. Then he added, "Oh. And bring Saya. This concerns her, too."

And, with that, he was gone.

The three of them stood frozen for a moment, taking it all in, and wondering if what they had just witnessed was actually real. Of all people, Riku broke the silence.

"So…" the blonde trailed off, "now what?"

"Now," Kagami said, exhaling deeply, "we get back to the construction site."

* * *

Three figures could be seen just beyond the horizon. The first of which, Kagami, carried the still unconscious thin man on her back. Luckily his leg hadn't been broken, but his arm certainly had, forcing the three of them to pool their pathetically limited medical knowledge in order to splint.

Jirou, meanwhile, was being carried half by Sasuke and half by Riku. His wounds had been cleaned and bandaged, as well—luckily Saya had insisted they bring some medical supplies before they left—especially the one near his wrist, but admittedly, the two of them were a lot less careful when carrying him than Kagami was with Shigeru.

Kagami noted the shock in everyone's faces, the looks that told her they hadn't even noticed they were gone—and worst of all, she wasn't surprised.

Naruto-sensei, in her opinion, was the worst offender of this particular crime. Tazuna had been spending his time walking someone through a detailed woodworking process he was notoriously particular about. Naruto, on the other hand, had been too busy goofing off with his new work buddies during what was apparently their lunch break.

It didn't take long to explain. The three of them had agreed on a story as they were mending Jirou and Shigeru's wounds quite similar to what actually happened, but without any mention of the masked man or his revelations.

"We'll talk about this later," Kagami had said. "As for Saya…"

"We'll worry about that when we get home," Sasuke assured, forcing a smile, but even Riku could see it was fake; he was just as worried as any of them.

Somehow, everyone believed them about Jirou and Shigeru. The bruise on Kagami's face told enough, but nothing could have matched the betrayal in Tazuna's face when he found out.

The first useful thing Naruto suggested was that Tazuna needed to get Shigeru to a hospital as soon as possible. But first, they needed to wake everyone up.

The dark-skinned man named Takumi set to work on soaking a rag in cool water to dab Shigeru's face until he awoke, which worked in less than a minute. And, as Tobi had said, he remembered nothing of their encounter with the masked man.

The method used to awaken Jirou, however, was much less gentle. Rather than being dabbed, the man was soaked with the nearest bucket of water they could find.

The man awoke with a jolt to a host of disapproving glares.

"What is—where… what happened?" he blubbered. Tazuna stood the closest, arms crossed and looking impressively stern.

"Tell me it isn't true, Jirou. That you didn't accept money to sabotage this project—to try and harm an innocent girl!" Dark eyes glared into Jirou's purple ones. Jirou looked away.

His guilty silence told him enough and that sealed it for Tazuna.

"Leave. Now!" The man demanded. "You are no longer welcome at this job."

"But my son—"

"If you needed money that badly, you could have asked!"

"We would have helped you!" Inari chimed in, backed with a chorus of gruff "Huhs!" "All you had to do was ask."

"That still leaves one question, though," Kagami spoke up. But rather than turning to Jirou, she looked straight at Shigeru. "Why all the weird looks? If you weren't trying to kill me, then why?"

The area went quiet, waiting for the thin man to reply.

"A construction site like this is no place for a child, especially a girl," he began, but before Kagami could retort, he continued. "I had a daughter once. Beautiful girl. Golden hair. Her name was Kin. She was all I had in this world. My wife Manami died when she was young."

"Shigeru—" Tazuna trailed off, his expression struck. "All these years and you never said anything?"

"She died," Shigeru stated. "She died in a place like this. Terrible accident. I had forgotten my lunch one day and she came to take it to me. We were restoring an old structure, and no one knew about the loose bit of roofing and Kin…" he trailed off. His expression pained, a stark contrast to what Kagami had seen these past few days. "Well, as for Kin, wrong place wrong time. I've been drifting to a new place every few years ever since. This is the only trade I know, so I couldn't just leave it."

"I'm sorry." The words left Kagami's mouth before she could fully process them. Loss. Family…

An image of Kagami's mother flashed through her head.

She knew that feeling well.

"I should've said something sooner," Shigeru mumbled. "I apologize for making you feel uncomfortable."

The next thing Shigeru knew, Tazuna's hand was on his shoulder. Then Inari, Kotaru, and everyone else who could possibly fit.

"You're not alone, Shigeru," Inari spoke up, eyes glinting. "We're all here for you."

And, for the first time, Kagami saw the thin man smile.

* * *

"So you're sure there's nothing else we can do for you?" Mariko's voice was sweet, almost saccharine as Team Naruto fastened their backpacks, ready to take off for the day's walk back to Konoha. There would be no cart provided for them to hitch a ride on this time.

"We're sure," Naruto assured, although Sasuke silently wished one of them had been courageous enough to request a bento box or two. If there was anything he was going to miss about this place, it was Tsunami and Mariko's cooking. "You're sure you don't want us to stick around until Inari's house is finished?"

"You've already done more than enough," Tsunami said, waving her hand for emphasis. Her expression fell with her next words. "Still it's a shame about Jirou, though."

Tazuna nodded remorsefully. "That it is."

"If you wanna see the finished product, you're going to have to visit again, Naruto!" Inari grinned, changing the subject.

Naruto just grinned back and gave the boy—now a man—a thumbs up. "Sure! See you, Inari!"

"It was good to meet all of you, Riku, Kagami, Sasuke." Tsunami smiled politely and offered them each a bow. "Take care now, okay?"

Sasuke's delight only grew as she brought out a stack of bento boxes from behind her back that Mariko had previously been holding out of sight. And somehow, despite everything, even Kagami managed a smile.

"Thanks!" Sasuke said, accepting the gift. "We will!"

* * *

The one named Jirou stood before him, his memory void of their previous encounter. Nonetheless, even if he couldn't recall specifics, the mason remembered enough to justifiably look as uncomfortable as he did during his meeting in the dead of night with his mysterious employer. Admittedly, Obito's choice of rendezvous point at the unguarded outskirts of town probably didn't help. In the past, Tobi had gone to him, but this was entirely different story.

"You said you wanted to meet me?"

"Yes." Tobi grinned smugly behind his mask. Even if Jirou couldn't see his face, he could certainly hear it in his tone.

"So," Tobi began, "I hear you failed."

"I—I—"

"It's okay," Tobi cut off. The man looked at him incredulously.

"It is?"

"Yes. I expected you to fail. Would have been extremely disappointed if you hadn't, actually."

"Wh-what?"

But, rather than answer him, Tobi simply called, "Kisame!" and the former Kiri nin appeared not a second later. If Jirou had been nervous before, he was terrified now.

"Advantage of working with non-shinobi," Tobi gloated, his hands raised triumphantly. "None of you can sense chakras."

"But I—"

"Kisame." Only for Tobi to cut him off once again. "Dispose of him."

"Finally!" Jirou shrank back at the blue man's words, causing him to trip and fall backward onto the damp ground. Kisame, meanwhile, approached his prey, a sadistic grin on his shark-like features. "Something to do…"

"Oh," Madara added, and Kisame stopped in his tracks, Samehada slumped over a powerful shoulder while Jirou quivered beneath him. "Try to make it look like a suicide if you can."

And although he grumbled, Kisame obeyed.

"There he goes again ruining all my fun."

The large man died silently, his face frozen in a mask of fear as Kisame's massive hand obscured his airway.

Tobi merely sighed, shaking his head at the unfortunate sight.

"Can't exactly have him exposing secrets now can we?"

* * *

If it helps, the townspeople bonded together to help Jirou's widow pay for her son's treatment after Jirou died. The two of them, in the least, get a somewhat happy ending (Jirou's still dead, though).

Also title drop. Boom.

Aaaand Tobi gets to play the exposition fairy again. I think he likes that role.

More to come as soon as I can manage it. Once again, school is proving to be quite an obstacle to my beloved hobbies.


End file.
